It seemed like the final outcome was in doubt until the very end, but in the end, the Golden Eagles showed they were loaded for Ursus Americanus in an 84-74 win at Penn Highlands in Johnstown, PA on Tuesday night.
Despite having double digit leads that waivered throughout the game and trailing just once in the entire contest, KSU Tusc never looked comfortable as the host Black Bears clawed their way back time and time again. As old ball coaches say, you can never take a play off or sleep on a lead.
After the Golden Eagles opened up a 16-8 lead, Penn Highlands grabbed a short-lived 19-16 advantage late in the opening half (8:04), because a Braden Rostad (Gnadenhutten, OH / Indian Valley) triple and a sweet one-handed tip in by Brevan Raber (Sugarcreek, OH / Sugarcreek) pushed the scales back in the Eagles favor 21-19. Seconds later another Rostad long bomb found its' as the shot clock was expiring and spotted the Navy and Gold to a 26-21 lead.
Down the first half stretch the two Golden Eagles bigs shared the ball scoring the final eight points of the half for a 37-29 halftime lead. DeJuan Lawrence (Akron, OH / Kenmore) got an offensive stick back and was the beneficiary of a low block pass from Arthur Jackson (Euclid, OH / Euclid) for another easy bucket. Lawrence returned the favor with a one-handed bounce pass to Jackson for another hoop, before Jackson scored on another one-handed pass that dissected the Black Bear defense from London Cobbs (Chicago, IL / Roosevelt).
Early in the final half the Eagles built two 11-point leads, but the Bears found some three-ball honey and kept hacking the lead to single digits. With 11:08 left to play, the Black Bears had sunk six triples over a six-minute stretch and managed to get to within 56-50. They made 17 threes in the game.
The Eagles called a timeout with 9:12 left to calm things down and employed a Bear trapping full court press that forced several consecutive turnovers that led to a 7-1 spurt and a 63-51 lead. A Rostad triple boosted the advantage to fifteen points (66-51) with 6:19 to play.
The relentless Bears however, rooted out a 9-2 run with 3:15 to play to cut the lead to 70-63. But the Eagles responded and scored five straight on a DJ Haggins (Euclid, OH / New Day Academy) backdoor lay in, a Rostad layup off a baseline inbounds pass and a Cobbs free throw with 1:12 left before the Bears, trailing 75-63, started fouling in an attempt to extend the game.
KSU Tusc scored 11 points in the last :49.7 seconds---10 of them at the foul line---for the final margin of 10 points (84-74). Cobbs sank five charity tosses in the waning seconds.
The Golden Eagles were paced by Jackson, who scored 22 points, 16 in the second half. Lawrence added 17 points, Haggins 15 and Cobbs 13. For the game KSU Tusc sank 16/22 free throws and 15/20 in the final half, the bulk of them in the waning moments.
Now 2-8 on the season, the Golden Eagles host Clark State on Thursday.
Arthur Jackson led the Eagles at PH with 22 points.